Kern vows not to apologize for remarks about homosexuals

Thousands have sent e-mails criticizing state Rep. Sally Kern for comments that were posted on the Internet in which she calls homosexuality "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam," the legislator said today.

"The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact," Kern is heard saying on a YouTube audio segment posted Friday.

"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam," Kern is heard saying on the Web site.

The Cimarron Alliance Foundation, an Oklahoma City-based group, has sent a letter to House Speaker Chris Benge stating that Kern, R-Oklahoma City, "must apologize or be censured by the House of Representatives."

Benge, R-Tulsa, has no comment on the letter, his spokeswoman said today.

Kern said today she does not plan to apologize nor does she think her fellow legislators would censure her.

Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said she has received more than 3,000 critical e-mails and hundreds of angry phone calls since her comments were posted on YouTube late last week.

Kern, a former social studies teacher in the Oklahoma City School District, said the e-mails to her office often have been vulgar.

"I heard what you said and you should be killed ... along with George W. Bush!" read one e-mail sent to Kern. "Christianity is the cancer in our society and should be eliminated."

The Cimarron Alliance Foundation issued a posting today on its Web site asking people not to send hate mail to Kern.

Kern said she told a gathering outside the Capitol recently about efforts by gay rights groups to target conservatives in recent elections.

"I said nothing that was not true, I said nothing out of hate and I don't believe my colleagues will censure me," Kern said today.

"I was speaking about the homosexual activists who are aggressively funding pro-homosexual candidates against conservative Republicans," Kern said. "In 2006, they targeted conservatives across the nation, mostly at the state and local levels. They took out 50 of them."

Kern said she was talking to "grassroots individuals who are Republicans."

Someone apparently taped her comments and they ended up on YouTube, sparking reaction from across the country.

"Representative Kern's secretive hate words made to a small group of about 50 people are now being heard and judged by millions of Americans," wrote Richard Ogden, chairman of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation. "These words are on YouTube and millions more Americans will hear her hateful words."

Kern often has opposed homosexuality

Kern has not been shy in her criticism of homosexuality during her nearly four years as a state legislator.